December 22
Holiday Special. We include some songs we never got to play during the year, as well as some parts of interviews that were just left out. Stay tuned for a Pandora's Box full of wishes and the unexpected gifts. And of course, we don't leave out that most important of treasures, which is our hope for a new world based on peace and love, rather than greed and militarism.
This was a fun show to do, and I hope you enjoyed it. I just picked music and interviews that I had saved during the year. It was stuff I couldn't throw away.
Activist Radio is usually more formulaic, especially since I now record it in my home studio. I write almost all of the program out before I start recording. That's different than what happened in the Vassar College Radio's studio, where I would often go off subject. Back then I also had a number of so-hosts, which really changed the dynamics of what went out over the air.
The new year gets me thinking about other possibilities for the show. I still enjoy doing it a lot, especially since the program seems to be gaining an audience. KCEI carries Activist Radio now, broadcast from Red River and Taos New Mexico. So does KEPJ of San Antonio, Texas.
KKWE from White Earth Indian Reservation broadcasts Activist Radio in Minnesota, as does WBDY in Binghamton, New York. Wesleyan University airs my program to Middletown, Connecticut from its station, WESU. And WGRN (The Green Renaissance) broadcasts us from Columbus, Ohio. WRFA airs us to Jameston, New York.
Each week brings a new list of stations. Some carry Activist Radio for a week or two and then drop us. Some have been with us for several years. One of our longest relationships is with WIOF in Woodstock, NY. It is a great little station, with a relatively wide broadcast area in the Mid Hudson Valley. Finally, the show is carried by the Progressive Radio Network which goes out from https://prn.live.
Having listeners always makes things seem more important. I want my country to put a greater emphasis on peace and social justice. I want to talk about racism, neoliberalism, and militarism. I want to expose the filthy rich for what they are doing to the US and to the rest of the world. And I want to convince humankind that it is "too soon to die," as Pete Seeger implored us.
Here is all of Pete's song for a better new year:
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I'll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.
Some folks want to be like an ostrich,
Bury their heads in the sand.
Some hope that plastic dreams
Can unclench all those greedy hands.
Some hope to take the easy way:
Poisons, bombs. They think we need 'em.
Don't you know you can't kill all the unbelievers?
There's no shortcut to freedom.
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I'll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.
Go tell, go tell all the little children.
Tell all the mothers and fathers too.
Now's our last chance to learn to share
What's been given to me and you.
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I'll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
